Albatross Audio - Documentation

Introduction

Welcome to the official documentation for Albatross Audio Version 1.0.5. This innovative, high-performance WordPress plugin has been designed to streamline audio management on your website. Whether you’re a musician, podcaster, or developer, this plugin provides a comprehensive solution for creating, categorizing, and presenting audio playlists.

Installation

The Albatross Audio Plugin offers flexible installation methods tailored to your needs. Before proceeding, ensure that your WordPress installation meets the minimum system requirements and that you have full administrative access. Remember to back up your site before making any changes.

  1. Prerequisites: Verify that your server meets the necessary PHP and MySQL requirements, and that your WordPress installation is up-to-date.
  2. Installation via WordPress Dashboard:

    1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New.
    2. In the search bar, type Albatross Audio Plugin.
    3. Locate the plugin in the search results and click on Install Now. The system will automatically download and install the plugin.
    4. After installation, click on Activate to enable the plugin.
  3. Manual Installation:

    1. Download the latest plugin package from the official WordPress plugin repository at https://wordpress.org/plugins/albatross-audio/.
    2. If needed, extract the ZIP file on your local machine.
    3. Upload the extracted folder to the /wp-content/plugins/albatross-audio directory on your server via FTP or your hosting control panel.
    4. Return to your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to the Plugins section, and locate the Albatross Audio Plugin in the list.
    5. Click on Activate to enable the plugin.
  4. After activation, proceed to the plugin’s settings page to configure additional options such as default player behavior, playlist display preferences, and more.

Features

The Albatross Audio Plugin is packed with advanced features that elevate the audio playback experience on your website. Its robust functionality ensures that managing and displaying your audio content is both efficient and visually appealing.

  • Custom Post Type: Utilizes a dedicated post type for audio playlists, making it simple to manage and organize your content within the familiar WordPress interface.
  • Taxonomy Integration: Implements a hierarchical taxonomy system for categorizing playlists. This enables you to structure your audio content in a logical and navigable manner.
  • Enhanced Administrative Interface: Offers a user-friendly backend with custom meta boxes to manage song details such as title, artist, audio file URL, and thumbnail imagery. This streamlined interface simplifies content updates and maintenance.
  • Advanced Media Handling: Leverages the native WordPress media uploader for seamless selection and management of audio files and images, ensuring compatibility and ease of use.
  • Automated Duration Calculation: Dynamically calculates the total playtime of playlists by reading metadata from your audio files, helping you provide precise timing information.
  • Responsive Audio Player: Powered by the jPlayer library, the front-end audio player adapts smoothly to various devices, ensuring an optimal user experience on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.
  • Shortcode Integration: Allows you to embed the audio player anywhere on your site using a customizable shortcode. This offers flexibility in layout and placement across your pages or posts.
  • Extensibility: Comes with a comprehensive suite of hooks and filters for developers. These tools allow for extensive customization and integration, ensuring that the plugin can be tailored to your specific requirements.

Admin Interface

The administrative interface of the Albatross Audio Plugin is designed for simplicity and efficiency. It provides a clear and organized environment where you can manage your audio content with ease.

Custom Post Type & Taxonomy

The plugin registers a custom post type, albatross-audio, which is displayed under the Playlists menu in your WordPress dashboard. Alongside this, a dedicated hierarchical taxonomy (Albatross Audio Categories) is provided to help categorize and sort your playlists, ensuring that your audio content remains organized.

Meta Boxes and Song Management

Each playlist post includes a custom meta box that enables you to add and manage multiple songs. For each song, you can enter:

  • Title: The name of the song.
  • Artist: The performer’s name.
  • Audio File URL: A direct URL pointing to the audio file, ensuring smooth playback.
  • Thumbnail: An image that represents the song or album, which can serve as a featured image.

The interface supports intuitive features such as drag-and-drop sorting for songs, real-time updating of track numbers, and URL validation to ensure that only valid, playable audio files are used.

Automatic Featured Image Assignment

If no featured image is manually set for a playlist, the plugin automatically assigns the first available song thumbnail as the featured image when you save the post. This ensures every playlist has a visually appealing representation without extra effort.

Public Interface

On the public side, the Albatross Audio Plugin delivers an engaging and interactive experience to your site visitors. The design and functionality of the audio player are focused on ease of use and performance.

  • Template Flexibility: The plugin supports custom archive and single playlist templates. It first checks for theme-provided templates (such as archive-albatross_audio.php or single-albatross_audio.php) and falls back to its built-in versions if none are found, ensuring consistency with your site’s design.
  • Responsive Design: The audio player is fully responsive, ensuring that it adapts seamlessly to any device—be it a desktop, tablet, or smartphone—offering a consistent user experience.
  • Playlist Toggling: Users can easily show or hide the playlist panel with an intuitive toggle control, providing a cleaner interface when the full playlist is not needed.
  • Dynamic Asset Loading: To maintain optimal page performance, the plugin loads required CSS and JavaScript assets on demand rather than all at once.

Shortcode API

The plugin provides a powerful shortcode API that lets you embed the audio player on any page or post. This shortcode is highly customizable, giving you control over the player’s appearance and functionality.

Example shortcode usage:

Albatross Audio Plugin Shortcode Example

Parameters:

  • id – The unique identifier for the playlist post. If this parameter is omitted, the shortcode will default to using the current post ID.
  • playlist – Determines whether the playlist panel is visible. Use show to display the playlist (default) or hide to conceal it.

In addition to embedding the player, the shortcode fully integrates all playlist functionalities, such as play/pause controls, track progress indicators, and real-time updates of song metadata.

Customization & Extensibility

Built with developers in mind, the Albatross Audio Plugin offers extensive customization options. You can modify or extend the plugin’s functionality without altering its core files, ensuring that future updates do not overwrite your customizations.

  • Filter: albatross_audio_save_song_data – Use this filter to modify or append custom data to a song entry before it is saved to the database.
  • Template Overrides: Copy the default plugin templates to your theme’s directory to customize the front-end appearance of your audio playlists.
  • Action Hooks: Leverage multiple action hooks provided by the plugin to inject additional fields or processing logic into the admin interface, thereby enhancing playlist management.

These extensibility features allow you to integrate the plugin seamlessly with your existing site architecture and add custom functionality as needed.

Support & Resources

Our commitment is to ensure that you have a smooth experience with Albatross Audio. We continuously work on improving the plugin and your feedback is invaluable. Should you encounter any issues or need further guidance, try one of the support resources:

  • WordPress.org Support: Participate in discussions and seek advice on the support forum located on the plugin’s WordPress.org page.
  • Direct Contact: If you require personalized assistance, please use the contact form available on our website to reach out to our development team.

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. By browsing this website, you agree to our terms.
More info Accept